Wrench holster



June 23, 1970 J. FABYAN WRENCH HOLSTER Filed July 24, 1968 FIG. 4

FIG. 5

- INVENTOR JACK FABYAN ATTORNEYQ United States Patent 3,516,584 WRENCH HOLSTER Jack Fabyan, Wasilla, Alaska 99687 Filed July 24, 1968, Ser. No. 747,209 Int. Cl. A451? /00 U.S. Cl. 224-5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A belt worn holster for holding and preventing inadvertent withdrawal of a hand tool having detents on opposite faces of its shank. The holster has superposed panels with the front panel being secured to the rear in a manner so as to provide a lower flexible flap. A U- shaped cut through the front panel provides a tool opening and the resulting tongue and flap have leaf spring means normally biasing them into planar relationship. Pawl means on both the flap and tongue cooperate with the detents in the tool shank to prevent withdrawal.

This invention relates generally to the field of tool holders and more specifically to a holster for tools such as wrenches, hammers, screwdrivers, and the like which are used by steel workers, riggers, telephone linemen, and others working at elevated locations, and its object is to retain a tool securely on the body of the wearer in order to prevent involuntary withdrawal of the tool and at the same time permit its ready removal when desired for use.

Over the years, many workmen on the ground have been severely injured by wrenches and other tools falling on them from higher elevations when fellow workmen have negligently dropped the same or when they have fallen from pockets and/or other make-shift scabbards. An example of a prior art device in this general area is the patent to Hanson, No. 2,469,386, issued May 10, 1949, which relates to a spud wrench holder and is of fairly complex construction although it does, however, serve to retain a wrench from involuntary withdrawal.

The invention herein disclosed consists of a flexible wrench holder adapted for attachment to a belt normally worn by a workman and having Integral therewith lock means engageable with a special protrusion on the tool to securely retain the tool in the holder against any accidental displacement regardless of the position of the holder or the workman.

An object of this invention is to provide a simple and durable tool holder adapted for attachment to a belt which will securely lock a tool in position to prevent withdrawal and which will release the tool upon a simple twist of said tool relative to the holster.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a tool holster which will retain a hand tool locked therein in any position including an inverted position.

A still further object of the instant invention is to provide a tool holster having reinforcing means therein to prevent undue wear on the portions of the holster in contact with the hand tool.

Another object of this invention is to provide a tool holster which is simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, durable in use, and at all times safe and efficient.

For yet a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to the following description and drawings wherein like reference characters represent the same elements and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the holster with an open end wrench locked securely therein;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical cross section taken along the lines 22 of FIG. 1, but showing the Wrench in full view;

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 2, but showing the wrench in an upward abutting position locked against withdrawal; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but showing the wrench twisted degrees to allow removal from the holster.

The holster of the instant invention is shown generally at 10 and is adapted to :be worn in a conventional manner on a steel workers or linemans belt 11 as shown in FIG. 1. The holster is designed to support a generally conventional steel or iron riggers spud wrench 12 provided with the usual open end working face 13 and a tapered tail 14. The wrench is provided with the conventional gooseneck offset portion 15 as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The wrench 12 differs from the conventional wrench in that arcurate shoulders or detents 16 and 17 are machined into the tool handle somewhat rearwardly of the offset portions 15 and on opposite sides of the wrench. These portions provide abutments for the locking elements of the holster and will be described in greater detail herewithin.

Holster 10 is constructed of a preferably flexible material such as leather, rubber, or tough plastic and is formed with a back panel 18 of generally rectangular configuration although preferably having rounded corners, and a front panel 19 of somewhat shorter and narrower dimension. The panels are secured together in spaced relation with their top edges even. The front and back panels 18 and 19 are held in spaced relationship by means of leather or rubber spacer bars 20 and 21 at the top and somewhat below the center of the front panel 19 respectively. A plurality of rivets 22 secure the front and back panels and the spacer bars. The opening defined between the spacer bars 20 and 21 as shown at 23 provides a belt receiving recess as shown in FIG. 2. The extra length of the back panel 18 serves as a protective skirt and prevents the tool from hitting the body of the wearer.

Since the front panel 19 is secured against the rear panel 18 at a location somewhat spaced from its lower end, the lower end of the front panel, due to the flexible nature of the material, may be flexed upwardly or downwardly. This lower flap portion of the front panel 19 is cut through on three sides in the manner of a U to define a center depending tongue 24. It will be seen in FIG. 1 that the dimension of the tongue is such as to allow the shank portion of the wrench, but not the working end 13 to pass through the opening defined by the tongue and the lower flap portion 26 of the front panel.

The central lower portion of the tab 26 is protected by a sheet metal guard member 27 of generally U-shaped configuration which surrounds both the inner and outer surfaces of the tab at the lower central portion thereof and is affixed thereto as by rivets 28. The upward portion of the tab is bent back to form a sharp locking pawl 29. A metal guard member 30 is secured to the front panel 19 in such a manner as to provide protection against abrasion to the entire front portion of the holster in the area where the wrench working face might contact the same. The guard 30 is of such configuration as to include a central downwardly extending tongue projection 31 which serves to protect the tongue portion 24. Tongue guard 31 extends somewhat below the tongue 24 and provides a tongue locking pawl 32 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The side portions 33 of the guard 30 depend along the side of the cut out portion and are secured to the lower tab 26 as by rivets 34. These guard portions 33 serve also in the nature of leaf springs, and since their upper ends are fixed as by the rivets 22 to both the front and the back panels 18 and 19 they normally serve to bias the tab portion 26 along with the guard 27 and pawl 29 downwardly against the wrench which is inserted into the opening. In a similar manner the central depending portion or tongue 34 and its guard 31 are in the nature of a leaf spring and are normally biased to the left as shown at FIG. 2 thereby tightly engaging the shank of the wrench 12.

Due to the size of the working end of the wrench 13, the same cannot pass downwardly through the opening in the top panel 19 and due to the cooperation between the pawls 29 and 32 and the locking shoulders or detents 16 and 17 as shown in FIG. 3, the wrench cannot normally be removed by pulling the same upwardly.

In order to physically remove the wrench from the holster, the same must be twisted approximately 90 degrees as shown in FIG. 4, so that the portion of the shank of the wrench which will pass against the pawls is smooth and the locking shoulders 16 and 17 cannot abut against the pawls 29 and 32. In this manner, the wrench may be drawn out in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4 and removed for use.

The wrench may be placed back in the holster in any convenient manner as the locking pawls 29 and 32 will ride over the detents 16 and 17 until in locking engagement.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of the instant device, it is to be understood that the drawings and detailed disclosure are to be construed in an illustrative, rather than a limiting sense since various modifications and substitutions of equivalents may be made by those skilled in the art within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A locking holster for a hand tool comprising:

(a) a front and rear panel formed of flexible material secured together in spaced relation to define a belt receiving loop therebetween,

(b) said front panel having a U-shaped cut therethrough spaced from its side edges to receive a tool shank, said cut defining a U-shaped flap and a central depending tongue,

(c) leaf spring means on each of the side portions of the U-shaped flap and on said tongue, normally biasing the flap and tongue into planar relationship, and

(d) pawl means on the bottom edge of said tongue and on the base portion of said U-shaped flap adapted to cooperate with shoulders on the shank of a tool to secure the same in said holster against accidental removal.

2. A locking holster as defined in claim 1, wherein said leaf spring means on the side portions of said flap consist of sheet metal wear guards secured to the outer face of said flap.

3. A locking holster as defined in claim 2, wherein said leaf spring means on said tongue consists of a sheet metal wear guard plate secured to the outer face of said tongue and extending downwardly below the lower edge of said 4 tongue, said extending wear guard portion comprising the pawl means on the bottom edge of said tongue.

4. A locking holster as defined in claim 3, wherein the base portion of said U-shaped flap is provided with a sheet metal wear guard secured to the outer face thereof, a portion of said wear guard extending over the top edge of said base portion and bent over rearwardly to define a lip, said lip serving as the pawl means on said base portion.

5. A locking holster as defined in claim 1, wherein said rear panel extends substantially below said front panel defining a protective skirt.

6. In combination, a hand tool and a holster for receiving said tool in a selectively locked relation; said hand tool having an enlarged working face and an elongated shank portion, detent means on said shank portion on opposite faces thereof, said holster comprising flexible front and rear panels secured together in spaced relation to define a belt receiving loop therebetween, said front panel having a U-shaped cut therethrough spaced from its side edges to receive said tool shank, said cut defining a U- shaped flap and a central depending tongue, leaf spring means on each of the side portions of said flap and on said tongue normally biasing the flap and tongue into planar relationship, and pawl means on the bottom edge of said tongue and on the base portion of said flap adapted to cooperatewith the detent means on the tool shank to secure the same in said holster.

7. A hand tool and holster combination as set forth in claim 6, wherein said leaf spring means on the side portions of said flap consist of sheet metal wear guards secured to the outer face of said flap.

8. A hand tool and holster combination as set forth in claim 7, wherein said leaf spring means on said tongue consists of a sheet metal wear guard plate secured to the outer face of said tongue and extending downwardly below the lower edge of said tongue, said extending wear guard portion comprising the pawl means on the bottom edge of said tongue.

9. A hand tool and holster combination as set forth in claim 8, wherein the base portion of said U-shaped flap is provided with a sheet metal wear guard secured to the outer face thereof, a portion of said wear guard extending over the top edge of said base portion and bent over rearwardly to define a lip, said lip serving as the pawl means on said base portion.

10. A hand tool and holster combination as set forth in claim 6, wherein said rear panel section extends substantially below said front panel defining a protective skirt.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,600,193 9/1926 Michaud. 1,706,953 3/ 1929 Busch.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner R. J. SPAR, Assistant Examiner 

